Han shih wai chuan :: :: University of Virginia Library

The music of Shun[1] in using shield and battle-axe[2] was not
perfect music[3] ; his marriage with his two wives was not in complete
accord with ritual (li)[4] ; his enfeoffing the nineteen sons of
Huang-ti[5] was not based on justice (i); his going in the fields
weeping and wailing[6] was not living up to his fate. From the
human point of view, he [acted] correctly, but judged from the
legal point of view, he did not. The Li says,[7] ["The Way of the
Sages includes] the three hundred ways of acting according to
ritual (li), and the three thousand rules of demeanor." The Ode
says,[8]

Quietly fulfill the duties of your offices,
Associating with the correct and upright
So shall the Spirits hearken to you,
And give you good.

[1]

[OMITTED] is so defined in Analects 164 (3/25); see note 3 below.

[2]

Cf. Li Ki 2.46 (17/1.1): "The combination of those modulated sounds, so as to
give pleasure, and the [direction in harmony with them of the] shields and axes, and of
the plumes and ox-tails, constitutes what we call music." (Legge 2.92.) The shields
and axes were used in mimes of war; the plumes and ox-tails in those of peace. Cf. ibid.
1.469 (6/1.7): "The Grand director of Music taught how to brandish the shield and
axe." (Legge 1.347.)

[3]

Cf. Li Ki 2.62 (17/1.26): "The dances with shields and axes did not belong to
the most excellent music." (Legge 2.102.) But Analects 164 (3/25): "The Master
said of the Shao that it was perfectly beautiful and also perfectly good."

[4]

Mencius 345 (5A/2.1): "Wang Chang asked [Mencius], saying, `The Ode says,

In marrying a wife, how ought a man to proceed?
He must inform his parents.

If the rule be indeed as here expressed, no man ought to have illustrated it so well as
Shun. How was it that Shun's marriage took place without his informing [his
parents]?' "

[5]

Cf. Lu shih ([OMITTED]) 11.15a: [OMITTED] "[Shun] enfeoffed
nineteen grandsons of Huang Ti as marquises and earls."

[6]

Cf. Mencius 342 (5A/1.1): "When Shun went into the fields, he cried out and
wept towards the pitying heavens," whence probably Shu ching 65-6 (2B/3.21): "In
the early time of the emperor, when he was living by mount Li, he went into the
fields, and daily cried out and wept toward the pitying heavens." (This belongs to the
"old text.")

[7]

DM 422 (27/3); Li Ki 2.467 (28/2.38).

[8]

Shih 366 No. 207/4.